UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN Update 660 for 4/29/99

IRIN Update 660 for 4/29/99

U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org

IRIN Update No. 660 for Central and Eastern Africa (Thursday 29 April 1999)

GREAT LAKES: Package announced to address HIV/AIDS scourge

Health ministers from the Great Lakes have been issuing dire warnings about the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region. A two-day conference held in Kigali to launch the Great Lakes Initiative against AIDS (GLIA) ended on Wednesday, with an announcement by the director of Rwanda's National AIDS Control Centre (PNLS), Innocent Ntaganira, that US $400,000 would be set aside for an HIV/AIDS prevention programme along the main road axes of the region. According to the Rwanda News Agency, he also announced a further US $4,000 for programmes aimed at reducing transmission of the virus among refugees and displaced people.

The total package, worth around US $1.2 million, will also be used for developing an information exchange system between the countries, improving care for sufferers and for research and coordination, RNA said. The GLIA initiative is sponsored by UNAIDS.

Burundi's Health Minister Juma Mohamed Kariburyo told the meeting that three quarters of hospital beds in his country were occupied by HIV/AIDS patients, and 20 percent of the 400,000 population of Bujumbura was infected. He warned that unless the disease was brought under control, Burundi's life expectancy in 10 years' time will have fallen to 39 years of age.

His Rwandan counterpart, Ezechias Rwabuhihi, said the disease was "spreading like a bushfire" in Rwanda. An estimated 20-30 percent of people aged between 30-40 in the country are believed to be seropositive. Throughout the region, nearly five million people have HIV/AIDS, 99 percent of them between 15 and 49, the PANA news agency reported.

The countries represented at the meeting were Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The Democratic Republic of Congo did not attend. The meeting noted that only in Uganda has the prevalence of HIV/AIDS decreased, by about 50 percent between 1993-98, PANA said.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Civil society to boycott debate

Doubt hangs over the proposed national debate to be held in Nairobi next month. A group of prominent organisations making up the "Civil Society of DRC", in a statement issued this week, rejected a list of participants invited to the meeting and declined to attend. The organisations - including the human rights organisation ASADHO and NGO consortium CNONGD - said real grassroots groups had been omitted from the list. A member of the Civil Society told IRIN on Thursday the government had "selected" participants, rather than allowing the various groups to nominate their own representatives. He said DRC's main opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, has rejected the invitation, as have the rebel factions. Two hundred and fifty seven people have been invited to the debate.

BURUNDI: Army denies major clashes in Bujumbura Rurale

The Burundian army has denied media reports of major clashes in Bujumbura Rurale over the weekend. Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mamert Sinarinzi told IRIN on Thursday there was a "small clash" after rebels infiltrated the Mutumba area of the province, and one civilian was killed. He said the rebels were hidden among the population, but there were also infiltrations from Tanzania. The spokesman added that there had been clashes on the Burundi-Tanzania border last week in which one Rwandan was captured. He said this proved there was a "coalition" operating in the Great Lakes region of the Burundian FDD, PALIPEHUTU, FROLINA rebels and the ex-FAR and Interahamwe of Rwanda. Sinarinzi said the continuing border problems could "trouble" the Arusha peace process, but the talks would continue.

FRODEBU secretary-general expelled

Wrangles are again appearing in the main opposition FRODEBU party, after its secretary-general Augustin Nzojibwami was expelled at the weekend, the BBC Kirundi service reported. The party's exiled president, Jean Minani, said Nzojibwami had been involved in activities "detrimental to the party". An MP, Thomas Bukuru, who was also expelled, said the move had no meaning as the secretary-general was the only leader of the party under Burundian law. Last month, Nzojibwami expelled ex-president Sylvestre Ntibantunganya from the party.

Situation in Gitega province improving

The situation of people in Gitega Province has improved steadily since January, according to an Oxfam survey conducted in March. The agency's "emergencies bulletin" on Wednesday said there had been a notable decrease in acute malnutrition in the under-five population, continuing low mortality rates, functioning health services and fewer new admissions to supplementary feeding programmes. Returnees in the north of the province are also becoming more established, demonstrated by land cultivation, the agency added.

Oxfam, which has now begun the process of handing over its supplementary feeding programme and 15 health centres to the provincial health ministry said it will continue training health workers and investigate ways of involving local communities in improving long-term food security.

UGANDA: Executions of 28 prisoners "in the balance"

The lives of 28 prisoners, due for execution on Thursday, are hanging in the balance as human rights groups and the diplomatic community in Kampala are locked in negotiations with the government to try and rescind the court's decision, director of Amnesty's African regional office Patrice Vahard told IRIN on Thursday. "Although there has been conflicting information, official sources confirmed they have not been executed," he said. "We do not know what will happen this evening since the official execution time is 19:30. But we remain optimistic."

The execution of the men, convicted of murder and robbery which carry mandatory death sentences under Ugandan law, has elicited an international outcry. There have been no executions in the country since 1996.

RWANDA: Seven genocide suspects get death sentence

A court in the northwest Ruhengeri prefecture has sentenced seven genocide suspects to death and acquitted 12 others, the Rwanda News Agency reported. The seven defendants were found guilty of various genocide charges, including creating "terrorist gangs" in the prefecture's Ruhondo commune. They were among 25 suspects who were brought to court in a "mega-trial", judicial sources told the RNA. Others were sentenced to various jail terms.

TANZANIA: Food shortages force government to import maize

Tanzania is to import maize to cope with a crop failure that has plagued over a million people throughout the country, news organisations reported. Deputy Agriculture Minister Ismail Ivwata told a news conference on Wednesday the country had entered into contracts with four companies to bring in 100,000 mt of maize, at a cost of US $15.6 million. Crops failed due to a drought that began last October, and the government's own grain reserves are depleted.

Nairobi, 29 April 1999, 15:00 gmt

[ENDS]

Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 18:05:07 +0300 (EAT) From: IRIN - Central and Eastern Africa <irin@ocha.unon.org> Subject: CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA: IRIN Update 660 for 29 April [19990429]

Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D

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